The Ultimate Lego Book: Discover the Lego Universe

The book looked like a good deal. However, the book has mildew throughout at least 60-70% of its pages. There are a lot of pages that are torn about 2-3 inches up or down from the edges. Others are just obviously torn out leaving large chunks behind.

Here is another of those wonderful Dorling Kindersley titles that you can open at any page and be amazed. I can't really add much more than the Editorial Synopsis above regarding the contents, except to say that this is a beautifully produced book with well thought out editorial content, large photos (mostly as cutouts with a grey drop shadow that makes them float on the page) with excellent captions. Some of the models are quite amazing, frequently using hundreds of thousands of bricks and used in the Lego theme parks.There are some lovely touches throughout the pages, ten to twenty-three has a company time-line showing how Lego originated and as the years go by keeping up with new developments in technology so that now the little bricks come with chips. Pages thirty-two to thirty-seven explain how bricks are made and to illustrate this an assembly line of Lego was constructed and photographed. Buyers of this book should know that it is not a how-to manual though, there are a few pages of things to make, including (pages seventy-one and two) a beautiful moving skeleton that looks like it has less than fifty pieces. As the basic Lego unit is an oblong brick, curves have always been a problem and model makers who join the company have to learn how to make round things out of straight things. I noticed that one area still defies a credible solution: lettering! Any letters have to be made of straight lines and with capitals like A and R they end up looking the same.I think, for the price, this is a wonderful book that any Lego user will enjoy.

My older son and younger nephew are both dedicated Lego fans. Beginning around age 6, they could not get enough information about Lego . . . nor enough Lego sets. Thousands of dollars later their thirst is still not slaked. This book is less expensive than most of the better Lego kits, and will bring many hours of pleasure to those who love Lego. If you are a teenager, you will probably find this book a bit elementary and will likely see it as a four-star book. If you are an adult, you will mainly enjoy the illustrations of amazing Lego models that the master builders have created, and this will be a three-star book for you.The book has a little of everything. You get a thumbnail background on the company's history, key dates for major innovations, how master builders are selected, major exhibits from the three LEGOLAND parks (in Denmark, the U.K., and California), and the latest in robotics, software and merchandise. The book also shows how Lego can be used to create scale models for explaining ideas (such as the ones for how Lego blocks are manufactured), as well as bringing major buildings to life (such as the 21-foot-tall Empire State Building). The final section shows how Lego blocks can be employed to create sculpture and artistic images. "Our aim is to stimulate children to become masters of their own lives . . . ." And Lego has been successful at that. While most children start out slavishly following the kits, soon they jumble all of the pieces together and just start making up their own objects. That's when Lego's flexible potential becomes important. In fact, that's how master builders are qualified, by taking a random group of components and seeing what they can build in 45 minutes. In essence, Lego is a tool for creating something physical out of a mental concept using virtually identical pieces of different sizes and colors. Many Americans will not have seen any of the LEGOLANDs, and the glimpses of what models are found there will probably whet the appetite for more, probably only to be satisfied by an actual trip. The book could have been improved by providing more technical detail on some of the most interesting models, so that those who are interested in creating similar models would know what components are needed and in what quantitites (and at what cost). Another potential improvement would have been to have included sections about some of the best model builders, where they could describe how they think about creating models. The main drawback of the model illustrations is that many are too small to give you a full sense of what the models look like. Fold-out pages with adults standing next to the Lego models would have helped in a number of cases. On the other hand, I am unaware of any other book about Lego that approaches this one for quality, scope and reader interest. So, if you know some who loves Lego, you should probably give them this book as a gift before they buy it for themselves. You'll be a

I must admit, I don't own this book. I haven't read all of it either. It's my little brothers, he's read most of it. When I was somewhere around 2 (that was almost 13 years ago) my uncles bought me a a bunch of huge containers of LEGO bricks. I have been endlessly amused by the stuff ever since (for the record, I'm the only girl my age I know of who still likes to build with it). Anyway, I was flipping through this book soon after my brother got it thinking "Hey! This is pretty cool!" Believe it or not I really didn't think there were people who's job it was to make huge LEGO models out of any peices they want. This is one of the many interesting things I picked up just from leafing through it in abouit five minutes. On top of that the pictures are great. So, if you like LEGO at all or know someone who does you should pick it up. It's got tons of stuff any LEGO maniac would find fascinating.

This is an excellent guide to the world of LEGO, whether you're a kid who loves playing with LEGOs, the parent of a LEGOmaniac, or a grownup who's been playing with LEGOs since childhood. As someone who fits in the last category, I was impressed with the collection of photographs, especially of older LEGOs that I still own! Everyone will enjoy this book over and over.